Shoes are special. Shoes are necessities of course. But more than any other article of clothing, shoes have the ability to evoke strong feelings in people who own, wear and desire shoes. Shoe obsessions are well known in society today, and sneaker culture has many people buying, selling, trading and coveting shoes.
People have different shoes for different activities like sports, dance, socializing, etc. People want to protect the integrity of their shoes when they are being carried to these activities. But people also want to show off their shoes. Shoes may be seen as an expression of a person's individuality, but this expression ends when shoes are carried around in tote bags, backpacks, gym bags, and even plastic shopping bags.
Shoes don't pack well with other clothing and personal items because they are rigid and bulky. Shoes are also a problem to pack because they are exposed to dust, dirt, mud, chewing gum, and other waste products.
Many solutions have been devised for carrying shoes around. There are dedicated shoe bags and cases, but these need to be carried in addition to purses, backpacks and other bags, so they are awkward and burdensome to use. Dedicated compartments have been designed into backpacks and other bags, but these reduce the utility of the carriers when not used for shoes, and they have other problems as well. For example the shoe compartments cannot be laundered separately if waste matter from shoes contaminates the compartments.
A saddle bag style shoe carrier with individual shoe bags is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,219 and sold in a commercial embodiment, but it has limited usefulness because it is only designed to be wrapped around a backpack. This design also tends to squeeze the backpack, thereby making it difficult to load the backpack with additional items or causing the shoe bags to slip if items are removed from the backpack.
Thus, there is a need for something that solves the practical problems of carrying shoes while also letting people show off their shoes and express themselves. There is a need for a product that is worthy of the footwear it carries.